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Glorifying God for His Glory in Nature

The Westminster Shorter Catechism declares: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” That is to say that human beings exist to praise God and thus live a life that enjoys God for ever. The question that follows from this naturally is how to glorify God in such a way that we can enjoy him forever? This also means that believers ought to be always on the look out for stimuli to praise God every moment of their lives. Glorifying God is not by repetition of some mantras that has some self-hypnotic effects or the like. It is not getting into a trance or ecstatic experience that comes from psychedelic lights or sounds. Glorifying God is not subjective, but objective in its nature where the worshiper gazes the glory of God realizing how the creator is distinct from the creation. Real praise of God happens when we see the glory of God and pours forth our hearts before him. The psalmists are good examples for worshipers of God. They acknowledged God in their lives, in cr...

Attitude in Worship

There are times when we are very few in number when we gather for worship on Sundays. Our eyes scan the room to find who has come and who has missed that Sunday. Our spirits are down when we are few and up when there are many people. The preacher feels less "anointed" when there are more empty chairs than people and the spirit of the worship team depends on the number of people too. I have been pasturing an urban church for three years now where the number dwindles during the holidays. During the holiday season, most of my church members would like to travel, visit their families and only a faithful few will be left during for weeks. I have learned to cope with this and am teaching my leaders to cope with this. We are learning to keep the same level of "anointing" and the spirit whether we are few or many! The first thing that we realize is that we are not few in worship even when there are empty chairs around. Christian worship is a joint celebration with the angel...

Personal Worship and Corporate Worship

Worshipping together is one of the salient features Christianity which it shares with its predecessor Judaism and is followed by its successor Islam. Most of the religions have individualized worship experience. Worshippers visit shrines on their own to pray to their deity and does not necessarily need the company of others. However, gathering together for worship in the church, synagogue or the mosque is important for the above religions besides the private time of worship. So the two terms: "Personal worship" which signifies the individual's act of worship and "corporate worship" which is the worship which individuals offer in the company of other believers. Some people are very keen on corporate worship but at the expense of the personal worship. They are regular at church services, praise and worship meetings etc but may not pour out their devotion and adoration to God when they are alone. These people find it difficult to meet God alone; they need the co...